


Taking care of my man

by bunnysworld



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 04:17:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8189578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnysworld/pseuds/bunnysworld
Summary: Merlin is really stressed out and it starts to have physical effects. Arthur is right there for him.





	

Arthur frowned. He knew Merlin loved his new job but the project he was working on was nearing its end and Merlin was putting in even more hours than before. It felt as if he left home in the morning to come back late at night only to shed his clothes and fall onto the bed face-first. 

Even on the weekends, Merlin hardly was around and Arthur was looking forward to the event Merlin was organising. Not because he was keen on it – he wouldn’t be there anyway – he just wanted his Merlin back. He hated that Merlin was so exhausted and jumpy. 

His boss, who was supposed to coach Merlin through the planning stages, had let him down and done nothing, so Merlin worked extra hard to make this happen. What bugged Arthur the most, though, was that Merlin didn’t let him touch him. For weeks, he had drawn back, mentioned the pressure he was under and pulled his hand back whenever Arthur reached for it. 

The week of the event, Arthur finally noticed why. Merlin’s knuckles were red and scabbed, the skin on his pinkie broken. This only happened when Merlin was this close to breaking, his whole body reacting to the stress, his skin being the first thing that gave. Usually, it started inside Merlin’s hands, the skin peeling and it had to be really bad when it also showed on his fingers and the back of his hands. 

Arthur knew better than to address it. If Merlin didn’t want him to notice, he would only be more defensive when Arthur tried to talk him into doing something about it. 

Gwaine had teased about the five-course meal Arthur had planned to order from his favourite restaurant to celebrate Merlin’s success – and Arthur had no doubt whatsoever that Merlin would rock the event – but he had decided against it. He had also cancelled the room in the fancy mountain resort in Switzerland he had planned to take Merlin to for a long weekend of just relaxing.

Instead he had asked Hunith to make the soup he knew was comfort food for Merlin, got some bottles of Merlin’s preferred brand of beer and settled in to wait. 

Merlin stumbled in late, dropped his backpack as soon as he was inside the door and toed his shoes off, blowing out a breath when his feet were finally freed from the fine Italian leather. Tugging at his tie and taking his jacket off, he wandered into the living room. 

“You’re back.” Arthur smiled. “Do you want to take a shower first or would you rather have some soup?”

“I’m not hungry.” Merlin pulled the shirt from his suit pants. “Fuck.” Hectically, he wiped at his white shirt where a little blood stain was visible where he had touched it with his hand before.

“Leave it, we’ll deal with this later.” Arthur came over, grabbed Merlin’s wrists and held on. 

“This is an expensive shirt and now I’ve ruined it.” Merlin closed his eyes for a moment.

Arthur was shocked at how exhausted Merlin looked. “If I didn’t think you’d fall asleep and drown, I’d suggest a bath. But go, take a shower, wash the day off. Your mam’s pumpkin cream soup is waiting for you.”

“Mam? Is she here?” Merlin blinked confusedly.

“No, she made the soup and sends her love.”

“I should call her.”

“That can wait. Go, take a shower. Or do I have to carry you to the bathroom?”

Arthur’s mock-grumpy frown drew a tired smile out of Merlin. 

It took him a while to reappear in old baggy sweatpants and a hoodie that had seen better days. Merlin had never been a sharp dresser but Arthur knew he was really far beyond caring when he wore this hoodie. 

He still managed to make Merlin eat a portion of the soup. 

“Feeling a bit better?”

Just nodding, Merlin took the offered bottle of beer and made his way to the couch. Taking a swig of the beer, he sat down and then leaned his head onto the back of the couch, closing his eyes. “You didn’t ask how it went.”

“I know it went well.”

“It didn’t.” 

Arthur grabbed a few things he’d stored on the kitchen counter and made his way over. “What happened?”

Merlin started to count down a list of things that hadn’t gone the way he had planned, starting at only 8 people showing up when he had planned for 60 to one of the screens deciding to give up halfway through the event. One of the speakers had taken up too much time and couldn’t be stopped and others didn’t seem to be too thrilled to be there and rushed through their presentations. 

Sitting down on the coffee table, Arthur reached over and took the bottle from Merlin’s hand while he listened. He opened the tube of crème and gently applied it to Merlin’s broken skin. “None of this is your fault. What you organised worked, you had a plan and you were quick enough to change it when things didn’t work. You did great.”

Merlin just looked at his hand in Arthur’s. “What are you doing?”

When he was done covering all the sore and broken spots with the crème, Arthur wrapped the hand with a soft gauze bandage before he continued on the other hand that fortunately didn’t look as bad. “What I should have done long ago.”

Merlin frowned. “Huh?”

He finished wrapping the bandage around the knuckles of Merlin’s right hand and looked up. “Taking care of my man.”

Even though he smiled, Merlin sighed and looked at his hands. “You noticed.”

Arthur changed position from the coffee table to the couch. “Not soon enough.”

“I know you get angry when this happens, so…”

Pulling Merlin close, Arthur wrapped his arms around him and pressed a kiss into his hair. “It’s not important now. Just get some rest.”

Arthur wasn’t even sure that Merlin had heard him, he seemed to be asleep the moment, his head had touched his shoulder.


End file.
